British manufacturing has been in a state of decline and fragmentation for years, where employers and the state have deliberately divided and weakened the power of the workforce. Workplaces are increasingly subcontracting sections of the workers to other companies, firing workers and rehiring them as temps, and all sorts of sneaky manoeuvres to keep us down.
Outsourcing of manufacturing to countries with appallingly low standards and wages has served to impoverish both British workers and workers overseas. The IWW feels strongly that both sets of workers are exploited through the same dynamics, and that if they co-operate and support each other there is a better world for us all.
The IWW takes its members seriously, since the members run the union from the bottom up. We fight hard for each other and support one another through difficult times. We are strong in the conviction that workers can change their lives, and the lives of others, for the better if they organise together at the rank-and-file. In manufacturing, this means the workers on the shop floor will support the office workers, and the cleaners will support the forklift drivers. It means everyone works together for the common good and no one is left behind. Get organising in your industry:
- Industrial Union 410: Textile and Clothing Workers (all workers producing cloth, and manufacturing clothes)
- Industrial Union 420: Furniture Workers (planing mill workers, furniture factory workers and workers producing wooden containers)
- Industrial Union 430: Chemical Workers (workers producing drugs, paint, rubber, synthetic fibres and other chemical-based materials)
- Industrial Union 440: Metal and Machinery Workers (blast furnace, steel mill and smelting workers, and all workers engaged in the production and repair of machinery, tools and jewellery)
- Industrial Union 450: Print and Publishing House Workers (all workers producing printed matter). Contact ppw [at] iww-manchester [dot] org [dot] uk
- Industrial Union 460: Foodstuff Workers (workers engaged in producing, processing and packaging foods, beverages and tobacco)
- Industrial Union 470: Leather Workers (all workers in tanneries and factories producing leather goods and shoes)
- Industrial Union 480: Glass and Pottery Workers (glass, chinaware, pottery, tile and brick workers)
- Industrial Union 490: Pulp and Paper Mill Workers (workers engaged in producing pulp, paper and paper containers)
All except Print and Publishing Workers, contact rocsec [at] iww [dot] org [dot] uk